Ethiopian Airlines Debuts First Covid-Era, Contactless Terminal
Photo Credit: Ethiopian Airlines officially completed the 86,000-square- meter Terminal 2 expansion at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport. The $300 million Terminal 2 has the distinction of being the world’s first completed amid the pandemic and designed with an eye towards biosafety. Ethiopian Airlines
Skift Take
From government bailouts to layoffs, commercial airlines have taken drastic measures to stay afloat since Covid-19. Not Ethiopian – now operating out of the second largest capacity airport in Africa, while turning a profit and forging ahead with further expansion plans beyond its new state-of-art, bio-safety terminal.
Ethiopian Airlines several weeks ago officially completed a 86,000-square-meter terminal expansion at Addis Ababa’s Bole International Airport. With the capacity to serve 22 million passengers a year, Africa’s main transit hub is now home to the continent’s second largest capacity airport after South Africa’s O.R. Tambo International.
But this is no ordinary terminal project: the $300 million Terminal 2 has the distinction of being the world’s first completed amid the pandemic and designed with an eye towards biosafety.
Aside from daily airport cleaning procedures, this means digitized features, including state-of-the-art thermal scanners, 30 self-check-in kiosks, 60 check-in counters, 32 arrival immigration counters with eight e-gates, 16 security screening areas, touch-free sanitizing gel dispensers, and socially distanced gate seating.
“We are now providing a contactless experience,” Ethiopian Airlines’ Miretab Teklaye, director of integrated marketing, tol
